"Shane, this is Simone Serval. I’m here in Botswana. Any chance of seeing you?"

"Sure. Where are you staying. I’ll pick you up for dinner tonight."

"I’m at the Grand Palm Resort."

"Please be in the lobby at 6:30. I’ll be there after work."

"Don’t you want to have a drink in my room first, Shane?"

"No. Thanks, but no."

Simone put the phone down. She was puzzled. Shane’s wife was dead. She had engaged in quite an affair with him before he married Catherine. She considered him one of the horniest males she had ever encountered. Like all the other females awaiting his return to the Mara, she hoped he hadn’t found anyone in Botswana.

    Before the appointed hour, Simone was dressed in her sexiest and drenched in her most expensive French perfume. Finally, the hour came and she descended to the lobby. She didn’t see him anywhere. Her heart sank but suddenly she spotted him coming in the main door. Her heart recovered and sped wildly. He looked as gorgeous as ever. He came up to her and gave her a perfunctory peck on the cheek. He escorted her to a Mercedes Benz and held the door while she entered.

"We’re going to my villa. I have to eat with my children. They are still very fragile after losing their mother," he announced as they drove toward his rented home.

He made small talk in the car, avoiding all further mention of Catherine and asking about Simone's children and career. When they arrived at his home, he was greeted excitedly by his children. He asked the house boy for drinks to be served on his terrace. His children clung close conversing about their day at school. Shane seemed totally focused on what they were telling him. Then Staci asked him about his day. He described it as if he was speaking with an adult animal, not a cub. Simone was startled when his daughter gave him a totally intelligent and well worded response. At dinner, once more, his cubs took precedence. Shane was very polite to Simone, including her in the conversation and reminding his children that she was a film star. Apparently, film stars were not a big thing with Staci Simba, who was the image of her late mother. She was polite but turned quickly to other subjects. Simone wondered at the genetics in play with Shane’s offspring. His son, Sean, was totally lion, his daughter looked full cheetah. The time passed pleasantly. When Staci and Sean went to put on their night clothes, Simone took the opportunity to speak with Shane privately.

"Shane, please come back to my suite with me. It’s been so long."

"No, Simone. I won’t do that. Miss B is starting her off time this evening. She has a real fondness for the roulette wheel in your hotel casino so she will drop you off. I have to help Staci with a school paper. She has skipped another grade level here and needs some help with a difficult assignment."

He stood at least two feet from her with none of the touchy, feely, sexually charged mannerisms that once applied to any female that caught his fancy. She looked at his eyes and couldn’t read them. When Miss B came back down with the children, he asked her to take Simone to her hotel when she left. Simone was rather crest fallen.

On the ride with Miss B she decided to quiz her a bit.
 

"Has Shane found someone else in Botswana? Someone he cares for?" probed Simone.

"Mr. Simba is all about his children these days. If you were hoping for some hanky panky with him, you were barking up the wrong tree," snapped the intensely loyal and devoted nanny.

The rest of the ride was in silence. Simone got out of the car and went to her suite. There, she called the desk clerk and asked him to arrange a flight home for her as soon as possible. She left for the Masai Mara the next evening.

    Micah Mbubé was in seventh heaven. He was now in rehearsals with Leah Simba Lyon for The Thomas Crown Affair. It was a sophisticated movie with all the accompanying wardrobe and sets. Roy Lee Simba was directing. Roy Lee had decided to save the location shots for last. They were to be in London. Bertram Baboon was taking a much needed vacation before he started his next film. Leah, as it transpires, is a very good actress. The meat of the movie is Micah’s title role but Leah was holding her own. Roy Lee had to sit back in amazement at his daughter’s sophisticated acting style. She seemed not in the least distracted that her father was directing her in some pretty steamy rehearsals for the love scenes. Micah wished that he could manage to wrestle Leah from her husband, Ashley. When two sexy animals engage in almost nude love scenes, thought Micah, there is always the possibility of a heady romance. For Micah, it was already a fact.  The pre-publicity on the film included provocative shots of Leah. She was catching fire with the film buffs across the globe.

    Ashley Lyon picked up a copy of a rather provocative magazine to find Leah on the cover in a sexy outfit and pose. Little did he know that his best friend and business partner, Luke Leoparde, had also bought a copy and used it for his sessions of sexual self gratification in the wee hours of the morning. It appeared that Leah Simba Lyon was the female equivalent of her uncle, Shane Simba, when it came to turning on the opposite sex.

Leah Simba Lyon in a publicity shot for the studio.....

    Ashley and Leah were in Mombasa for the weekend. Leah had on her usual skimpy bikini and the paparazzi took note and followed her until she escaped on a wave runner with one of her daughters clinging behind her. She was fast becoming hot property for the frenzied reporters and photographers. The fact that she was married to the son of the president and first lioness and the daughter of superstar, Roy Lee Simba, only sweetened the pot for them. Ashley Lyon had long been the object of their flashing cameras. Now his very attractive wife joined him in the spot light.

"Leely, are you sure this movie stuff is right for you?" inquired Ashley on their second night at the beach.

"It’s kind of fun, Ash," she giggled. "Dad is really surprised at me."

"But those pictures that are coming out are sort of sexy, Leely. A bit too sexy for a mom."

"Your bare ass, when you get photographed with some female, is not a good image for a dad either, Ash."

She had him there. He shut up. When they went to bed, he made love to her the entire night. It occurred to him that he was not only making love to the mother of his children but a future superstar as well. That was sort of a turn on for the  sensual Ashley. He covered Leah’s lithe body with kisses and licks.

    Bertram Baboon and I lunched together at OKAPIS. When he returned from the Venice Film Festival, he had called me.

"We seem to be overlooking the lunch meets these days, Maury. I guess we are too busy, eh?"

"I am swamped. I am working late at the arts center trying to get Caroline Cheetah oriented as director. I also have lots on my plate at the State House right now. Catherine knew the ropes like a second skin. She is a terrific loss to the art scene here, Bertram."

"It seems so. Isn’t Caroline as brilliant? I thought all of Dorian and Cynthia’s cubs were extra bright and equipped with superior education."

"Caroline is very brilliant but not quite as creative as Catherine was. I’m glad you are taking a vacation, Bertram. You need it. You deserve it too."

"I am doing a lot of work with Chad Cheetah. We are going to adapt his play, The Dying Gaul, to the screen. That will be my next project. Maurice, Chad is moving in with me. He’s the first lover since you that I have wanted around me full time."

"I’m happy for that, Bertram."

"I know you have escalated with Lachlan Lion in your life these days. How is that going?"

"Swimmingly. We don’t want to move in together yet, though. We know our work schedules are too heavy. It is very pleasant the way it is now. And I know he will never hurt me as Lawrence did."

"That’s always a blessings," said Bertram, popping an olive in his mouth.

Betty Chimpo concentrated on her career as head of the news department at the Masai Mara Daily, worked on another book and bided her time. She dined with Micah and slept with him once or twice a week. She also had the ear of her former husband, Montecore, when she needed it. Montecore came over most Sunday afternoons to swim in her new and very elegant pool.

"A penny for your thoughts, Betty."

They were on chaise lounges, Montecore just having emerged from a dip. Betty had just brought a fresh pitcher of Bloody Marys.

"I was thinking about Shane Simba as usual, Monte. I know that’s silly but I can’t seem to get my mind off of him."

"I daresay, he will be home soon. He’s been in Botswana about four months now. Maybe you can start from square one, Betty. Now that he is a widower."

"I’m sure he hates me. He told me that I had hurt his wife and daughter with my book. I don’t think he will forgive that, Monte. She must have ascended into sainthood by now in his mind."

"If you should catch him the next time around, they say there is nothing like following a dead mate into a marriage. The ghost is supposedly more formidable than any flesh and blood rival."

"I’d take my chances, Monte."

"I am sure that lion will follow Ralph Lyon as President of Kenya, Betty. Can you deal with that?"

"I married the son of the president, remember?"

"That’s not the same thing as the president, himself. I know in America, it is terrific pressure to be first lady."

"I have sent a very slim manuscript to my publisher in New York. I wrote it very quickly and easily. It is about living with the heart break of an unrequited love."

"What did you title it?"

"Life Outside Of Heaven," she answered sadly, lighting a cigarette.

"How beautiful, Betty. What a kick ass title."

Betty put a red nailed hand on his paw.

"What would I do without your dear, dear friendship, my Monte?"

"What would I have ever done without yours, Betty?"

Betty’s new and very slim volume hit the book stores several weeks later. Shane Simba, browsing with his children in a book store in Gaborone, saw it and picked it up. He purchased it along with the selections made by his children.

Simone Serval was ascending in the elevator in Lyon Towers. A fellow passenger was Chris Simba. Since it was only the two occupants, they struck up a conversation. Chris had some dates with Simone at one time.

"Are you living here, Simone?" he asked.

"Yes, and you?"

"I live on the fourth floor," Chris told her.

"I live in Shane’s penthouse. I rent it from him."

"Let’s get together."

"Let’s do," she said, hastily scribbling her phone number on a slip of paper she found in her purse.

She handed it to him before he exited at his floor.